…the local institution most vulnerable to legislative micro-management is UW-Madison. So much so that former Chancellor John Wiley, on departing two years ago, blasted some state legislators and the stateâ??s big business lobby for doing genuine harm to UWâ??s ability to remain a world-class institution with their small-minded tinkering.
When Wiley visited our offices back then, I inferred from him that he saw an anti-intellectual subtext in the struggle between the two ends of State Street. Looking back, that anti-UW fervor feels now like it vaguely presaged todayâ??s tea party movement.